It's been a while. But I have been reading! I promise. I've just finished Emile Zola's The Sin of Abbe Mouret, for me one of Zola's most erotic novels. Erotic because Albine and Serge are so innocent in their love and exploration of the Paradou (the huge garden, Eden) and of each other. But as someone who has enjoyed several years of the sins of pleasure, my reading of this novel is heightened by the possibilities. Zola's descriptions of the garden, with its lush vegetation, it's fecundity, it's contrast of dark and light, of engendering strong emotions in our protagonists takes your breath away. The Paradou is Gaia. The living, breathing, almost panting Goddess Earth. Gaia symbolizes life, fertility, and the interconnectedness of all living things. She is also known as Mother Earth, Terra Mater, or Mother Nature, representing the planet as a living, nurturing entity. And Zola's lavish descriptions make you believe in this entity, she is the other; watching, guiding, encouraging Albine and Serge to their eventual sexual climax, but all within the walls of innocent and uncontaminated love.
It is a story about the Church v. Nature, religion v. science/philosophy (enlightenment), institutions v. social codes. Biblical parallels are undercut by characters of reason and science in Dr Pascal, Serge's brother, Jeanbernat, Albine's uncle and La Teuse, Serge's housekeeper. The villagers tolerate the Abbe and his church, but they are not religious. Life is too hard, the realities of feeding your family too stark to believe in a God that doesn't listen.
Zola's passion for life always comes to the fore. Many of his novels, Germinal, La Terre, La Debacle and The Sin of Abbe Mouret illustrate life continuing, despite death, even when the death affects its readers. Zola, doesn't give us time to grieve, life continues relentlessly.
Having read this novel at least three times now, Zola's detailed descriptions have taken me on an odyssey through the Paradou. I have become a partner to Albine and Serge as they navigate the Paradou and their burgeoning sexual experience.
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